ESCONDIDO: Citracado connector delayed to 2014

Construction of a half-mile Citracado Parkway connector,
designed to improve access to the new Palomar Medical Center and
reduce congestion in western Escondido, will be completed in late
2014 instead of late 2013, city officials said this week.

Discovery of American Indian remains in 2008, the need to build
a bridge over Escondido Creek and other environmental hurdles are
reasons for the delay on the roughly $25 million project, said Ed
Domingue, Escondido's engineering services director.

Hospital officials complained loudly when city officials
announced in 2009 that the project would be completed in 2013
instead of 2012, contending that lives could be lost if ambulances
must take circuitous routes to the hospital, which is scheduled to
open in summer 2012.

But the latest delay has prompted a more conciliatory
response.

Hospital officials said in a statement Wednesday that they
hadn't been notified of any delay and still expect the connector
road to open in 2013, but that they plan to work with the city to
cope with any delays and "come to a solution that is acceptable to
both parties."

Mayor Sam Abed said the city is doing everything possible to
complete the road quickly.

"We're working hard and we're making progress," he said. "We
have to do it as soon as we can."

The new road will close the large gap in Citracado that extends
from West Valley Parkway up to Andreasen Drive and Harmony Grove
Road. That will allow drivers on Interstate 15 much easier access
to the hospital, Stone Brewing Co., the Escondido Auto Park and the
industrial area southwest of the I-15/Highway 78 interchange.

"This road will let people cut the corner between 15 and 78,
which will ease a real backup point at the interchange," Domingue
said, explaining that Citracado will be a four-lane arterial with a
landscaped median. "It'll be a great shortcut."

Besides handling the American Indian remains, which has required
numerous meetings with tribal leaders in recent years, the city
also had to work with residents of the rural Harmony Grove
area.

But those residents were appeased when the city agreed that
Citracado would intersect Harmony Grove Road at a right angle
instead of crossing it with a high-speed curve. Harmony Grove
residents have said they expect Citracado to reduce the number of
people who use the area's rural roads to cut through the area.

Domingue said the city's environmental analysis of the project
should be made public late this year, and then approved by the City
Council in early 2012.

He said construction bids would be awarded in early 2013, with
construction scheduled to begin in June 2013 and completion slated
for September 2014.

In addition to environmental problems, the city must also secure
the money needed for the project, Domingue said.

Hospital officials gave the city $13 million cash toward the
project in 2006, but more than an additional $10 million is
probably needed, he said.

Construction will cost an estimated $19.3 million, but land
purchases, mitigation of American Indian remains and environmental
work will add several million more to the price tag, Domingue
said.